A senior at Rider University, he is on the men’s tennis team and hosts a weekly campus sports radio show (1077thebronc.com or 107.7 FM). He had an internship a couple of years ago at WFAN and does game tracking for the Trenton Thunder.

He has visited England and Poland. He took part in a multi-cultural program for nine months after high school, teaching underprivileged children in Israel; living with people from England, Australia, South Africa and Germany, to name a few.

So what if he participates in five fantasy football leagues? So what if he bought “Madden 25” last summer when a store opened its doors at midnight and went home and played until 8 o’clock that morning?

That, of course, after he won a store-sponsored tournament against a handful of other store-charging Madden junkies.

Last month, he competed in a 32-player tournament on the Rider campus. He won. The prize was two tickets to a Giants game at Met Life Stadium.

Zahorsky, a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro North High School, has, like most in his generation, been playing video games since preschool.

The 24-year-old has won a fair amount of money playing Madden over the years, and if Atlantic City casinos offered the game like poker tournaments, he would have dropped out of college long ago.

“I would,” he said last week, while attacking a garlic pizza like Adrian Peterson hitting the A-gap.

“I would love to have my own radio show some day and make the rest of my income playing Madden.”

Game websites require entry fee, meaning players have to open an game account as well as a PayPal account to receive earnings.

EA Sports, a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games, also offers games like NBA Live, FIFA, NHL and NASCAR. According to its website, the best-selling series is FIFA with more than 100 million units sold.

Its motto is, “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.”

Zahorsky is definitely in the game, having played Madden since age 10. He was initially exposed to live sports when he attended a Phillies-Marlins game at age 9.

“I’ve had a fascination with sports ever since,” he said. “Before that, I liked Godzilla. I still love Godzilla. I can’t wait for the movie to come out in May.”

With six-minute quarters, games can take less than 30 minutes to play. Players are generally assigned teams in tournaments but can select their favorite teams in random games — or against the machine itself.

Zahorsky, a rabid Vikings fan who on this day is wearing a purple team jersey with Peterson’s No. 28, actually plays Madden more in the offseason.

“I don’t play as much in the school year, because school is still a priority, and during the season I watch so much football I don’t have much time either. I play more Madden when it’s not football season; I get my full dose when the season is over.”

The strategy is simple.

“Maximize what your team is good at, and you’ll give yourself a chance to win game-in and game-out,” Zahorsky said. “The one thing that’s made me better is developing an attitude about being level-headed. That’s allowed me to be successful and make comebacks. I was down one time 20-3 in the third quarter and scored four TDs in a row.
“I’ve had success in Madden because I play a way that’s sustainable from one Madden to the next.”

For those like him, football season essentially never ends. If he’s not watching it, he’s talking about it. He’s talking about fantasy trades, lamenting season-ending injuries to fantasy players, or tossing out stats only hard-core junkies would know.

“Here’s a guy who’s 6-2, 230, with a 4.3. That’s spectacular in itself,” Zahorsky said about Peterson. “But do you know that he’s gained 1,019 yards after contact? The whole field knows he’s getting the ball and they can’t stop him. He’s a once-in-a-generation back.

“That’s why I run him. You know, I’m a nice guy, but when I play Madden, I don’t have feelings.

“A common theme with Madden people is to get away from running the ball. But here’s an interesting stat I heard: Since 2008, teams that ran the ball less than 20 percent of the time are 1-56.

“I read a lot,” he said. “I don’t watch that much TV. If I want to watch a highlight, I’ll pull it up online. I don’t want to watch commercials. I don’t have that kind of attention span.”
Zahorsky said that Xbox lists more than 100,000 people playing Madden worldwide. He estimates his success has him in the top one percent.

“Madden isn’t my life,” he said. “I have a great social life. People don’t ask me to get a life, but you ask anyone who knows about Madden around here, and they’ll tell you they’ve heard of me. One of the first things coming out of their mouth is, ‘Man, that dude’s good at Madden.’

“I’m not being egotistical. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not very talkative at heart. I’m a listener before I’m a talker,” he said. “I just wanna give gamer nerds a better name.”